1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to and has among its objects the provision of novel processes for preparing quick-cooking rice products. Further objects of the invention will be evident from the following description wherein parts and percentages are based on weight unless otherwise specified.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Methods are known for preparing quick-cooking rice products. Usually, the known methods involve a combination of certain pre-drying steps such as fissuring, soaking, steaming, or boiling the rice. The pre-treated rice is then dried to a specific moisture content and is ready to be quick-cooked.
One problem with all of the known processes is that they have been applied successfully only to long grain white rice varieties; short and medium grain white rice, brown rice, and wild rice varieties have not been prepared for quick-cooking by the prior art methods. The short and medium grain white rice varieties exhibit surface-stickiness and individual grains tend to clump together yielding a texturally inferior product. Attempts at producing quick-cooking wild rice varieties have been unsuccessful because the resulting product when rehydrated by cooking is brittle and not totally cooked. Furthermore, the individual grains of wild rice break apart when subjected to the quick-cooking processes of the prior art.